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Ricardo Salinas of Grupo Salinas: The challenge is to create top-notch content on any platform

September 24, 2013

Maribel Ramos-Weiner

Ricardo Salinas with Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto

With Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto in attendance, Azteca celebrated its 20th anniversary with a party at the Azteca Novelas facilities in Mexico City this Wednesday September 18th. The event gathered personalities from the business world, advertisers, as well as company talent and executives, led by Ricardo Salinas Pliego, President of Grupo Salinas. Hosted by Paty Chapoy and Javier Alatorre, the event started with a look back at the last two decades for the company. Azteca currently has 300 stations across the country, presence in the U.S., Guatemala and Honduras; it holds 40% of the daily Mexican TV audience, as well as 30% of advertising investment; and it’s the second largest producer of Spanish-language content with over 18,000 hours of programming distributed throughout 90 countries.Following the opening musical act by ex-academics Nadia and Carlos Rivera and the arrival of Peña Nieto, Salinas Pliego took the microphone: “20 years ago our dream came true and became part of the transformation of media. Azteca was just an idea and today it’s a world-class company.”Salinas Pliego also said the company must continue evolving, “and face challenges such as the rapid changes in technology, with the goal of creating top-notch content on any platform, because in 20 years, the company will continue offering the best programming on TV.”At the end, Peña Nieto congratulated the company and its leadership for this milestone: “This company faces ferocious competition in a plural and democratic Mexico. The country has first-world information needs and our companies need to be at the forefront. I know Azteca will honor its commitment to the Mexican nation.”